To dirk or not to dirk?

[thescot]

I own a couple of dirks. One is the regiment style that the drum majors wear at the games I've attended. I bought it on the cheap because I liked it. I even got all dressed up and wore it once to a reception.

the other is one of the ornate dirks with the little knife and fork and a jewel on top. It comes out every January to assault a haggis!

I mentioned wearing the first dirk only once. The fact is, it was a pain to keep out of the way. As a practical matter, I'll not likely ever wear one again just because I had to keep shifting it. Ha.

I confess, I like Dale's look in the photo, I just never did wear one.

[OC Richard]

Yes with Highland military uniform the dirk is part of the uniform (in certain orders of dress) and is required by regulation or custom; with historical re-enactors the dirk is part of the historical costume and required for period accuracy. With modern traditional civilian Highland dress, which only follows the dictates of fashion (its own internal sense of fashion, but fashion nonetheless) the wearing of a dirk has been out of mainstream fashion for around 100 years. This doesn't make the wearing of a dirk "wrong", just unfashionable.